Rochester Stormwater Master Plan complete

The WRP has worked with the town of Rochester, VT Department of Environmental Conservation, and Watershed Consulting Associates to develop a Stormwater Master Plan for the village of Rochester.

Project background

The community of Rochester was hard hit during Tropical Storm Irene, which damaged infrastructure and caused devastating flooding impacts.

The community is making strides to become more resilient to future flooding events, and to protect the town’s water resources by developing a Stormwater Master Plan (SWMP). Recognizing that the future Municipal Roads General Permit will address the rural backroad network, the SWMP will target the village area where developed infrastructure and the most condensed impervious surfaces are located.

The SWMP Project was initiated by the town as a result of concerns about several stormwater runoff issues in the village. The WRP helped coordinate a site visit with technical assistance providers and town officials. Partners visited the top 4 action locations identified in the “Town of Rochester Stormwater Infrastructure Mapping Project” report.

The Project area encompasses 32 acres. Within this area the Stormwater Infrastructure Mapping report estimated that there’s the potential to implement on-the-ground projects that would remove 10,167 pounds of sediment and 56.7 pounds of nitrogen from Stormwater runoff into the White River.

Given the town’s stormwater runoff concerns and the potential to reduce significant inputs of both sediment and nitrogen, the site visit attendees agreed that all 4 action locations should be included in the Project.

Project goals

The goal of the SWMP Project was to reduce stormwater runoff in the village of Rochester. To accomplish this goal, the Project conducted an assessment to determine where stormwater runoff is generated and where it can be captured and removed efficiently by on-the-ground projects.

The resulting SWMP includes a prioritized list of projects and strategies to address/mitigate stormwater runoff, and contains recommendations to preserve natural features and functions, as well as encourage use of low impact green stormwater infrastructure.

Strategic importance

The SWMP Project was identified as a high-priority in the 2013 White River Tactical Basin Plan (Plan), which allowed the WRP to work with the town of Rochester to apply for VT Ecosystem Restoration Program funding to implement the Project in 2018.

As a next step the WRP will work with Project partners to identify funding to implement the top 3 priority on-the-ground stormwater mitigation projects.